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E 286 
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1876 
Copy 1 

SPEECHES 



OP 




HOi CARTER H. HARRISON, 



OF ILLI]sroiS, 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



ON 



r)EMOCIlA.TIC MUSia 

MAY 23, 1876, 



AKD ON 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 



OF OUR 



NATION'S INDEPENDENCE, 
JANUARY 19, 1876. 



^W Ji^S13ilN Gr|T O N . 
1876. 






\,, 



—"They are welcome all; let them have kind admittance. 
Music make their welcome." 

TIMON OF ATHENS.— Act I, Scexe 2. 

SPEECH 

OF 

Hon. Carter H. Harrison, 

OF ILLIlSrOIS, 

ON THE 

NAVAL APPROPRIATION BILL, 



DELIVERED IN THE 



UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

May 23, 1876. 



Mr. HARRISON. Mr. Chairman, I rise to oppose a feature of the 
amendment which the gentleman from Alabama thinks is not an im- 
portant one ; it being, at any rate, one to which he has paid no at- 
tention in his remarks. It is that part which strikes at the Marine 
Band, which proposes to abolish this baud. I oppose that part of 
the amendment from two motives; one purely aesthetic, and the other 
purely selfish. If I had time, I would like to dwell on the first mo- 
tive. I would like to tell how in olden times, at Athens, those graud 
people considered music one of the great educators of youth ; how 
wise fathers regularly carried theii- children to places where they could 
listen to the finest music ; how they thought it not only ennobled the 
heart and purified the soul, but through them beautified the body. I 
would like to descant upon the beauty of the Athenian maid, the 
product of music, who stood in her naked loveliness before Praxiteles : 
and how the shapeless mass of Parian marble burst into the Venus 
de Medici. I would like to dwell upon the manly beauty of the youno- 
hero who stood before Phidias, and how his image sprang from the 
soulless marble into the godlike Apollo Belvedere. I would like to 
prove that the beauty of the models for these chefs-d'ceuvre was due 
m a great measure to music. But, sir, I have not the time. So I 
will pass by this first motive, and shall confine my remarks to the 
other; especially as it will come home to the gentlemen on my side 
of the House more readily. 

Mr. Chairman, for fifteen long dreary years at the other end of Penn- 
sylvania avenue the White House has been occupied by a republican, 
and during the winter months, of evenings, the Marine Band has 
been up there at receptions to discourse sweet music for the delectation 
of a republican President, and for the delectation of his republican 
friends. At every reception a republican President has stood in a cer- 



tain room receiving his gnests, and his pet republican friends in white 
vests and white cravats hav^e stood behind him enjoying the dulcet 
tones poured forth fr-om the silver throats of silvered instruments by 
twenty-four gentlemen in scarlet coats. For long years, of summer 
Saturday afternoons, twenty-four gentlemen in scarlet coats have 
caused twenty-four silvered instruments, on the green in front of the 
White House, to belch forth martial music for the delectation of a re- 
publican President, and for the delectation of his republican friends. 

On the 4th of next March, sir, there will be a democratic President 
in the White House. Sir, is the democratic President to have no music ? 
[Laughter.] I have been up there at a presidential reception. I 
went in and I saw my friends from the other side enjoying the music. 
I went through a crowd of republicans with one hand on my watch- 
fob and the other on my wallet. I caught now and then the notes of 
the music, but I could not enjoy it. I was as a stranger in a strange 
land. I felt that I was one too many. But next year, sir," it will be 
different. 

Mr. MILLIKEN. They will have their hands on their watch-fobs 
then. [Laughter.] 

Mr. HARRISON. Very good ; but we will be enjoying the music. 
[Laughter.] Why, sir, the other Saturday evening I was out in 
front of the White House among the canaille, the sans culottes, the 
men and children without breeches and shoes. 

Mr. TOWNSEND, of New York. Was it a democratic meeting ? 
[Laughter.] 

Mr. HARRISON. And there, on the south portico, sat the Chief 
Magistrate, the republican President, with his feet on the balustrade 
and his Partaga in his mouth listening to the Marine Band. His re- 
publican friends were about him. Their feet were on the balustrade 
of the south portico, wreaths of blue smoke curled up in balmy deli- 
ciousness from Partagas fresh from the Flowery Isle. I shook a mental 
fist in their mental faces, and whispered to myself that every dog had 
his day, and I asked myself, "Shall this be ever thusly V And from 
deep down in my heart'came a reply, "No! No! never!" I will see a 
democratic President in the White House. He shall receive his friends 
to the music of twenty-four silvered instruments, filled with the breath 
of twenty-four gentlemen in scarlet coats. The Marine Band shall 
play true democratic music for a democratic President, [laughter;] 
and out there on that south portico I want to see a democratic Presi- 
dent sitting with his feet on the balustrade listening to the music 
poured forth by the Marine Band, and I hope to be one of his friends ; 
and I will sit there with my feet on the balustrade enjoying one of 
his Partagas. But they wish to abolish the Marine Band. Think of 
this being done, democrats, before the democratic President goes 
into his iJositiou. We have many men who we feel are fit to fill that 
position. In my mind's eye I see "them now marching on from Saint 
Louis to the White House. Let me name them as they come in sight. 
They come first from the East. 

Why, there is one from the great Empire State [Governor Tilden 
who we know is greater than Alexander was, for Alexander only cut 
the Gordian knot with his sword ; but the Gordian knot was made of 
nothing but a hempen string ; but this man with his fist smashed a 
ring of adamantine steel, cut and destroyed the canal ring. He may 
be in the position, sir ; and I want the Marine Band there to give him 
music. He is a man of purity, ay, of virginal purity. Perhaps he 
may wish to lead a bride into the White House. Shall we say the 



Marine Band shall not play for him the wedding march ? Shall we 
refuse to let the Marine Baud till with sweet music the bridal cham- 
ber? Not by my vote. Never, sir ! newej- / never ! [Laughter.] 

[Here the hammer fell, amid loud cries of " Go on !" " Go on !"] 

The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the gentleman from Illinois 
proceeding ? 

Mr. LEWIS. I must object. 

[Criesof "O, no!" "O, no!"] 

Mr. KASSON. I move to strike out the last word, and yield my 
time to the gentleman from Illinois. 

Mr. HARRISON. We have other men. There may be one from a 
smaller State [Senator Bayard] who would grace the presidential 
chair as it has not been graced for long, long years past ; one who in 
character as iu name resembles the peerless knight who was sans j^ear 
et sansreproche. Sir, this almost faultless man may be there.. Are you 
to deny him music from the Marine Band. Never, sir! never! never! 
I will never consent by my vote. [Great laughter.] 

We have them from Western States 

Mr. KELLEY. Bill Allen. [Laughter.] 

Mr. HARRISON. From the Buckeye State one — a man who, at the 
other end of the Capitol, [Senator Thurman,] never speaks but he 
utters words of wisdom — who is ready on every subject and makes no 
mistakes. Are we to have no music for him other than that which 
he himself gives forth from a nasal instrument in his own red ban- 
dana? No, sir; never! never! never! [Great laughter.] 

Sir, we have a man from the Hoosier State, the old democratic war- 
horse, [Governor Hendricks,] a great democratic leader, who, they 
say, is a little of a trimmer. If he is ever a trimmer or appears to be a 
trimmer, it is because his mind is so round that he sees both sides of 
a question and does not go wildly oft' on either side. [Laughter.] 
He may be in that position, and I may be his friend in the White 
House. Shall he have no music from the Marine Band ? Never by 
my vote! Never! neverI [Laughter.] 

From my own State, Mr. Chairman, there is a man who would fill 
the chair as it never was filled, [Judge Davis;] not a single inch of 
it will not be filled ; a great man in law and a great man in politics, 
who, if President, would never give a wrong decision. One against 
whom not a word can be said. When, sir, I shall come down from 
Illinois to be at his inaugural to receive him at the White House, 
shall we have no music to aid him in tripping the light fantastic toe ? 
[Laughter.] Never, six-, by my vote will I consent to that; never! 
Merer .' never ! [Laughter.] 

Sir, there is another still ; there is one from your own Keystone 
State, great in arms, [General Hancock;] great as a civilian; a man 
who, if he had not been a great general, would have been talked of 
for his great civil acquirements. He may be there and he will wish 
to have some memories of the past brought to his mind by martial 
music. Is it to be denied him ? Shall the Marine Baud be refused to 
him? Not by my vote; never! never! never! [Great laughter.] 

Then, sir, there is still another, the Great Unknown, coming ten thou- 
sand strong from every part of the Union, the Great Unknown of the 
democratic party. 

A Member. Parker ? 

Mr. HARRISON. No, sir ; I will call no names. He is all around 
in the democratic party. It is full of the great unknown. 

Mr. WILLARD. The great unknowing ? 



6 

Mr. MILLIKEN. I supj)ose that delicacy prevents the gentleman 
from naming him. 

Mr. HAREISON. Yes, sir ; delicacy and modesty forbids me calling 
names. [Laughter,] Sir, when the Great Unknown gets here, shall 
he have no music ; shall no tunes come from those twenty-four silver- 
throated instruments, blown out by these twenty-foiu* gentlemen in 
red coats, to welcome him to the White House ? Shall we have no 
music when we introduce him to the American people ? Not by my 
vote. No,sir; never! never! never! [Greatlaughterandapplause.] 



Centennial Celebration of American Independence. 



SPEECH 



HON. CARTEE H. HAEEISON, 

OF ILLINOIS, 

In the House of Eepresentatives, 

Wednesday, Jarmarxj 19, 1876. 

The House 'being in Committee of the Whole and haTing under consideration the 
bin (H. E. No. 514) relating to the centennial celebration of American Inde- 
pendence — 

Mr. HARRISON said : 

Mr. Chairman. It is said by some of the members on tbis floor 
who have opposed this appropriation, and by that portion of the 
press which opposes it, that this House cannot vote for it without 
stultifying itself; that by the vote recorded on the 14th of last 
month we have committed ourselves against all subsidies and against 
this measure. For the purpose of placing ourselves right, I wish 
to remind gentlemen, and to remind the press of the fact, that when 
that resolution was here to be voted upon a distinguished gentle- 
man from Massachusetts asked the question if that resolution would 
or would not cut off the centennial appropriation. The same ques- 
tion was asked by other gentlemen around me, and by myself among 
the number. The distinguished mover of that resolution, the gentle- 
man from Indiana, [Mr. Holman,] distinctly stated that he did not 
consider the word " subsidy" in that resolution as covering the cen- 
tennial appropriation. Therefore it does not bind tis. We voted for 
that resolution with a reservation in favor of the- centennial appro- 
priation—not a mental reservation, but an outspoken and a loudly 
spoken reservation. And I hope to show in the course of my remarks 
that this appropriation is not a subsidy, but is a compliance with the 
implied obligations of the Government when it invited the world to 
become its guests and to assist in this the hrst hundredth anniversary 
of our national existence. 

It is said, too, Mr. Chairman, that this is not a national undertaking ; 
that it is a private scheme, gotten up by a corporation in Philadel- 
phia. Tq a certain extent it is private. Scarcely any great act of 
government is ever originated otherwise than through some private 
individuals. If a great "public building is to be erected to accommo- 
date oiSficers of the Government in New York, in Saint Louis, or in 
Chicago, what is everybody's business is no person's business, and the 



s 

proposition is never acted upon until some interested parties, parties 
who wish to get a contract or to sell a site, bring it before Congress. It 
is true that this matter was brought before Congress by individuals 
from Philadelphia. But it was in answer to an expression of feeling 
that was as widespread as our Union itself that some great national 
rejoicing was befitting the people of America in the centennial year 
of its existence. They came here and suggested an exposition at 
Philadelphia. It was readily conceded that Philadelphia was the fit- 
ting spot in which to hold such an exposition. Philadelphia was 
acknowledged to be the cradle of American Independence and the 
place where it should be held. But, Mr. Chairman from that moment 
this undertaking became purely and strictly national. Congfess 
named it, Congress gave it its very birth. It declared what its objects 
should be. Congress declared who should be its officers, and one 
branch of the Government, the President of the United States, named 
those officers. Those officers have to report to the Government of the 
United States all that is done. They are liable to the Government of 
the United States for any mismanagement on their part. They are 
liable to this Congress by impeacliment should they be guilty of 
malfeasance. The President of the United States was directed by a 
law of Congress to invite the world to this our first great national 
jubilee. He did invite them. But gentlemen say here, as was said by 
the gentleman from New York, [Mr. Willis,] that Congress, when it 
made that law, put iu a proviso that there should be no more money 
expended by the National Government ; that it should not be liable 
for the debts of this corporation. Was that embodied iu the invita- 
tion that General Grant sent abroad to the nations of the world ? 
Was that proviso incorporated in the invitation to come and assist us 
in this glorious, this grand undertaking to show the world our appre- 
ciation of the great boon our forefathers had handed down to us ? No, 
sir ; of course not. It is true that we as citizens must follow the maxim 
that every man must take cognizance of every law enacted by the 
proper law-making powers. But foreigners have no such obligations 
attaching to them. They received our invitation. They have an- 
swered that invitation. Eussia has donated $700,000 to aid its citi- 
zens in being represented in this international exposition. People of 
all nations are coming. But the gentlemen who undertook to act as 
the agents of the Government, and to provide for the entertainment 
of the nation's guests, find that owing to the panic of 1873 they can- 
not raise the funds to complete the necessary buildings and to open 
the exposition in a fitting manner. They therefore appeal to Con- 
gress. They show us that they have wasted nothing ; that there 
have been no leakages ; that their inability to complete their prepa- 
rations is no fault of theirs. 

And yet we whose glory is to be celebrated by this great event, 
we whose glory is to be exhibited to the world, cannot make an appro- 
priation of a little more than twice the amount which the autocratic 
government of Eussia has made to enable his subjects to appear among 
us with their goods and their wares and to help us succeed in this 
enterprise. We invite the world to our feast ; and now we are told 
we must have the President issue his circular to the people of other 
nationalities to inform them that, owing to a proviso in the law, we 
cannot spread the cloth or uncover a iDlate ; that they must bring 
their lunch-baskets with them ; that they must be prepared to pay a 
dollar for those things they buy at home for less than half the sum ; 
that they can pay their money and take their choice of what they 
find ; that the centennial buildings may be without a roof ; that we are 



very sorry, but it cannot be helped, for we have found a constitutional 
objection to a further compliance with our implied agreement when 
we iuvited them to our feast, that is, to give them at least decent 
eutertaiument. 

I ask this House shall the United States occupy this position? 

Sir, this uudeitakiug was from the beginning national; it is na- 
tional. But it is said that it is carried on and to be carried ou by a 
private corporation. That corporation, sir, is a creature of the Gov- 
ernment ; it is a corporation born of governmental action ; officered 
by the Government ; commanded by the Government to do certain 
things ; empowered by the Government to do certain things. It is 
nothing more nor less than the agent of the Government. And we, 
by the fact that we made it a corporation, did not for one moment 
rob ourselves of the right to claim all the glory and all the praise if 
this great undertaking shall be a success. 

Sir, Congress may have committed an error in giving this enterprise 
so national an aspect ; but it is too late now to recede. It has told 
the world that this was our mode of celebrating our hundredth birth- 
day. The world understands that it was for this purpose that enter- 
prise had its origin. We cannot now undeceive them Avithout na- 
tional dishonor. We have reached the middle of the stream. It is 
too late to swap horses. 

The President has invited foreign nations to take part in it ; the 
people of foreign nations have responded. Year before last, in 1874, 
I. had the pleasure of spending several months traveling in Germany, 
in Austria, and in the Tyrol. Although I speak the language of those 
peoiile but indifferently, and mingled with them only as an ordinary 
traveler, I do not think I exaggerate when I say that I must have 
spoken with more than one hundred who intended to come to our in- 
ternational exposition at Philadeliihia. They were not poor and 
homeless emigrants, but they were men of means and intelligence ; 
men who intended to come here and visit the exhibition, and when 
that visit was over, they hoped to visit and see other parts of America. 
They advised with me as to the places they might possibly visit 
within a given time. Last summer I was again abroad. I was in 
Denmark and Sweden, and again in iiarts of Germany. I found that 
a wet blanket had been thrown over this whole thing. Men told 
me that they did not intend to come ; that the American people were 
too niggard to make an appropriation for the purpose ; that the enter- 
prise was descending into what would be simply a private and local 
affair. The impression was being made upon them that this under- 
taking was purely local and would not be worth visiting. Let this 
appropriation be passed, and if it shall pass this evening, by to-mor- 
row morning the lightning's tongue will carry the information to 
Europe, and a great impetus will be given to the tide of visiting 
strangers. 

Is there not a great good to be attained by these people visiting us ? 
I would state here that the calculation is that not less than twenty 
thousand people will come to this exposition from foreign countries. 
As the gentleman from New York [jVIr. Hewitt] has stated, the tide 
will be limited only by the accommodations afforded by European 
steamers. Each man coming here will bring a large amount of money 
with him, if I may use so ungenerous an argument. There is no doubt 
that they will spend in America several millions of dollars, not poured 
into the lap of Philadelphia alone, but scattered over the whole 
country. But, as I said, that is an ungenerous argument. But just 
liere I will make an argument which to me is of great importance. 



10 

These are hard times. The people are suffering for bread, although 
our granaries are bursting with plethora. The people are without 
money, although our bank vaults are loaded with idle currency. Why, 
sir, is this the case ? Because confidence has fled from the land ; men 
of means are groaning under their load of idle capital. And why, sir? 
Because they have lost confidence in their fellow-men. This exposi- 
tion, this national jubilee will bring people together from all parts of 
the land. It will open the hearts of the rich ; it will bring them face 
to face with their fellow-citizens. It will re-open trade all along the 
great lines of railways. It will put idle money into circulation. The 
people wdll for the moment forget hard titaes, and in that very f orget- 
f ulness confidence will be begotten. We have millions of money. All 
we want is to put it in circulation. It is believed this Centennial will 
go far toward this end. 

There is a higher argument than that. We all want to be brought 
into closer communion with foreign nations. When the mists have 
been lifted which now veil the forms of the stranger, as the gentleman 
from Philadelphia has so eloquently said, when speaking of our south- 
ern friends who were but lately our enemies, we will stand face to face, 
not only Avitli our southern brethren, but with foreigners of every 
'clime, and will feel that they are all men and brothers. 

They will come here and learn something of our great country. 
Gentlemen who have spent much time abroad will understaml me 
when I say that the ignorance of foreigners in regard to our Govern- 
ment, our society, and our affairs is remarkable. Talk with them 
about our gi-eat country, speak of the length of our rivers, and they 
are struck with amazement and surjirise. They are amazed at the 
great distances from one place to another in America. They are sur- 
prised at the huge dimensions of our inland fresh-water seas. By 
bringing them here we spread a knowledge of our country, make 
them better friends and more disposed to trade with us in the future 
and to mingle with us at all times. 

It is true that Ave here think that Europe should understand our 
affairs as well as we understand theirs. But we must remember that 
Europe Jias furnished the area on which the great drama of history 
has been enacted. We read its history and are familiar with its 
scenes. But America is to EuroiJe almost a terra incognita. By bring- 
ing them here to this exposition we enable them to see our country 
for themselves ; we will awaken in them an interest in our affairs 
and thus bring them into a closer communion with ourselves. 

We are told by the gentleman from New York [Mr. Willis] that 
these are hard times ; that we have no right to put our hands into the 
pockets of the sons of toil and take from them their hard earnings. 
Sir, the population of the United States is estimated to be forty-five 
millions. This appropriation is for $1,500,000. Distribute this sum 
among the people j^er cajnta and it will amount to the enormous sum 
of 3^ cents each. 

Mr. WILLIS. Will the gentleman allow me to interrupt him a 
moment ? 

Mr. HARBISON. Certainly. 

Mr. WILLIS. My argument had no reference to the financial con- 
dition of the country. I am very thankful to the gentleman from 
Illinois, [Mr. Harrison,] and also to the gentleman from New York, 
[Mr. Hewitt,] that they have given us the advantage of their com- 
putation that this appropriation will be but three cents a head for 
the population of this country. I would remind them, however, that 
there was another gentleman, a former member of this body, a gen- 



11 

tleman from Massachusetts, bnt not here to-day, who made a compu- 
tation to the effect that the salary grab amounted to but three cents 
a head for the population of this country, or the price of a postage- 
stamp, he inclosed to it- to the party complaining of the grab, and the 
peoijle permitted him to remain at home. I advise the gentleman to 
heed the lesson. 

Mr. HARRISON. The cheapness of the salary grab, or any refer- 
ence to the Credit Mobilier, does not make that right which of itself 
is wrong. But it affords an answer to the gentleman when he speaks 
of the money this appropriation will take from the hardy sons of toil. 
This $1,.500,000 divided am«ng the voters of this country would make 
sixteen and two-thirds cents each. Does any one believe for a moment 
that if the voters of America could be aj^pealed to they would hesi- 
tate to put their hands into their pockets and donate sixteen and two- 
thirds cents each to this great undertaking ? 

But, says the gentleman from New York, the rich men should do it. 
The rich men, who have made fortunes out of our bleeding country, 
should do it. Bat, sir, the rich men do not do it. The rich men among 
his own constituency, who revel in wealth, who wallow in untold for- 
tunes, they do not do it. 

Mr. AVILLIS. The gentleman will permit me to say that the citi- 
zens of New York City subscribed some $240,000 more than has been 
subscribed by the rest of the nation together. 

Mr. HARRISON. Very well for New York ; but New York should 
have subscribed all the balance, rather than have had this enterprise 
fail. 

Mr. WILLIS. It will. 

Mr. WIKE. I understand the gentleman to say that this appro- 
priation was excluded from the resolution against subsidies, which 
passed the House by so large a majority. 

Mr. HARRISON. The gentleman is mistaken. I said this, that 
Mr. HoLMAN himself said that he did not suppose that resolution 
covered the Centennial appropriation. The gentleman will see it is 
so if he will read from the Record. 

Mr. WIKE. Did not the gentleman vote for that resolution him- 
self? 

Mr. HARRISON. I did, with a reservation. 

Mr. WIKE. A mental reservation ? 

Mr. HARRISON. No ; an open-spoken reservation. 

Mr. WIKE. The resolution is as follows: 

Jlesolved, That in the jndgment of this House in the present condition of finan- 
cial affairs of the Government no subsidies in moneys, bonds, public lands, indorse- 
ments, or by pledge of the public credit should be granted by Congress to associa- 
tions or corporations engaged or proposing to engage in pviblic or private enter- 
prises — 

I want now to call the gentleman's attention to the closing words 
of this resolution — 

and that all appropriations from the public Treasury ought to be limited at this 
time to such amounts only as shall be imperatively demanded by the public service. 

Now I want to ask my colleague what connection this appropria- 
tion has with the public service ? ' * 

Mr. HARRISON. If the gentleman will allow me I will show that, 
at least to my mind, there is an imperative demand for the appro- 
priation. But let him read a little further from the Recokd and see 
what Mr. Hoar said. 

Mr. WIKE. Mr. Hoar said : " I should like the gentleman from 
Indiana [Mr. Holman] to inform the House whether he intends to 



12 

cut off the appropriation from the Ceuteunial?" And Mr. Holman 
answered : " 1 do not suppose it is covered by the word ' subsidies,' 
although I shouhl be willing to have it so construed." 

Mr. HARRiyON. By a wonderful recollection I have quoted it cor- 
rectly. 

Mr. WIKE. I have read now to accommodate you. Allow me to 
put my construction on that resolution now. 

Mr. HARRISON. The gentleman will have an hour hereafter. 

Mr. WIKE. Mr. Holmax simply says that this appropriation was 
not covered by the word "subsidy;" but he does not undertake to 
say that it is not covered by the spirit oS the resolution. 

Mr. HARRISON. I submit that my colleague will have time to 
make a speech himself. 

Mr. WIKE. I beg the gentleman's pardon for interrupting him. 

Mr. HARRISON. I know he is my friend, but is tied up just now 
by constitutionality. 'His patriotism to-day is tied up in the green- 
back. [Laughter.] 

Mr. REA. Will the gentleman allow me to ask him a question? 

Mr. HARRISON. I really cannot allow gentlemen on this side of 
the floor to interrupt me in this way. 

The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Haruisox] 
will proceed without interruption. 

Mr. HARRISON. I believe I was talking, when interrujited, about 
the cost of this thing. I said that it would cost to each voter in the 
United States sixteen and two-thirds cents. I believe that I asked 
the question, if the voters of the United States could be called upon 
would they refuse to make this donation? It is said that this cele- 
bration ought to have been a celebration made by the people as such. 
If there is no doubt that the people would have been patriotic enough 
to donate three and one-third cents and that the voters would have been 
willing to have donated sixteen and two-thirds ceuts, then it strikes 
me that it is our duty to collect from each person three and oue-thii"d 
cents, or, if preferred, sixteen and two-third ceuts from each voter, 
in the most economical manner. If each man, woman, and child in 
the country should send three and one-third cents to the finance com- 
mittee 6i the Centennial by letter, it would cost $1,350,000 in postage- 
stamps to get this pittance into the hands of the Centennial mana- 
gers. If each voter should send sixteen and two-thirds cents, it would 
cost $270,000 for postage alone, besides the time spent in going to and 
from the offices. It would have made the cost of the machinery of 
collection twice as large as the appropriation itself. If therefore we 
believe that the people of the United States are sufficiently patriotic 
to answer the demand of the Government that they should celebrate 
the one hundredth anniversary in the way the Goverumen t proposes, 
then we are doing the best thing possible to enable each voter to 
draw upon the people's bank, the Treasury of the United States. If, 
on the other hand, the people are not patriotic enough, then indeed 
is it time that we should do something to arouse again the spirit of 
j)atriotism which once burned in our laud, but which has been dead- 
en^ed by the civil war and by the great attention of our people to the 
making of the eternal dollar. Sir, the power of a free country is in 
the patriotism of its people. In a despotism the king cares not for 
the patriotism of his subjects. All he asks is willing obedience and 
enduring muscles. But with us it is a different thing. Sir, there are 
two kinds of patriotism. One is mixed with selfishness ; it has its 
origin in the knowledge of the protection given the citizen by the flag 
of his country, and the ability afforded him by its institutions to ac- 



13 

quire material wealth and material comforts. And there is a patriot- 
ism unmixed with selfishness ; it is that blind love of country which 
knows no reason for its existence ; that love a man feels for his native 
land because it is his native land, and because his forefathers have 
lived in it and their ashes, mingle with the soil he treads upon. He 
loves his country because he breathes its atmosphere, and because he 
knows that when his race is run he will lie down in its soil, and bis 
ashes will be mingled with the ashes of those who have gone before 

He loves it because his children will be gathered to his side by those 
who in their turn shall follow them. He wants that they shall all lie 
down and sleep in one common bed. Sir, this is emotional patriot- 
ism, it is sentimental patriotism. It is that feeling which nerved the 
army of Leonidas at ThermopyliB. It fired patriot hearts at Valley 
Forge. It is the feeling which, when "God save the Queen" is struck 
up by voice or by baud, makes an Englishman rise and uncover him- 
self and with glowing bosom thank Heaven that he is a Briton. It 
is the feeling which makes a Frenchman, in the midst of festival or 
in the midst of combat, join in the Marseillaise with almost frantic 
enthusiasm. „ , ^ i ^t , j. t 

When an invader crosses the frontier of the Tyrol that feeling 
lights a thousand beacon-fires on a thousand hill-tops, flashing as it 
were by magic, as the stars peep out of the firmament when the sun 
drops behind the western horizon ; it is that feeling which makes 
the poor Tyrolean when he sees that fire gleam leave his earth-floored 
but or his poverty-stricken chalet, seize his rifle, place himself by 
the side of the eternal mountains, making his body a bulwark of the 
house of Hapsburg as impassable as is the mountain itself. 

These men of the mountains are not actuated by any feeling ot in- 
terest. There ia no dollar-patriotism in them. They have no fields 
waving with grain; they have no noble dwellings. They are poor. 
They love their native land because their homes are hidden m its 
sequestered glen or are perched on the mountain-side. They love it 
because it is their home and because all their songs have been songs 
of father-land. , ,., i- 

This emotional patriotism is born of love of locality; and is as in- 
stinctive in ,the generous breast as is the love for woman to the boy 
when the down of manhood first darkens his lip. Like the boy s 
love, it may be frittered away by licentiousness, poisoned by interne- 
cine strife, and deadened by inordinate greed of gain. It is nourished 
by legendary tales and by songs of glory. It is fed on mystic words, 
• as Magna Charta and Eunnymede ; on legends of Tell and of Marion. 
It is painted on the retina of the soul by panoramas of Bunker Hill 
and of Yorktown, and of AVashington bufteting with the waves of icy 
Delaware. It is kept alive by national pomps, by national games, 
and national holidays. It is fired by anniversary drum-beats and 
cannon-booms, by Fourth-of-July orations replete with patriotic 
hyperbole. ... tx 

Sir, this feeling is one that we should cultivate m America. It was 
this that enabled our forefathers to fight through eight long years 
of dreadful carnage, suffering every privation, knowing not what 
privation was when they felt that their country called upon them. 
But to-day we are wrapping up all that glorious feeling in the folds 
of a piece of money less than a greenback— a smaller piece of cur- 
rency than the fractional currency is yet divided into, so small that 
we must mutilate the smallest piece of that currency to get at the 
amount— the amount of three cents and one-third of a cent. 

Sir, I do not believe in this thing. Let me read what was written 
by John Adams nearly one hundred years ago. On the 3d of July, 



14 

1776, the Declaration of Indepeudeuce having been resolved upon the 
day before, although it was not signed until the day after, John 
Adams — one of those men born of " the days that tried men's souls," 
one of those men who, if this had been a pagan land, would have 
adorned this Hall by statue or by bust, and would have been rever- 
enced by us as one of our demi-gods — John Adams wrote to his wife 
in these words : 

But tlie day is past. The 2d day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable 
epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by 
succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commem- 
orated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It 
ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, 
bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other fi'om 
this time forward, forevermore. 

You will think me transported with enthusiasm ; but I am not. I am well aware 
of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this Declaration 
and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays 
of ravishing light aad glory. 

This man was deeply read in historic lore, and had pondered well 
its lessons. He was deeply read in the human heart ; he knew what 
sort of soil that human heart was ; he knew, if neglected, it would 
grow up in brambles and weeds, while, if cultivated, it would give 
forth fruit of the finest character. John Adams wrote this not simply 
in a spirit of i»rophecy ; he wrote it to be a lesson to all time. He 
knew how patriotism had been nurtured in days gone by in olden 
Greece by Olympic games ; in Eome by pomps and shows and tri- 
umphf ul processions ; and he wanted it so done to-day and hereafter 
in this country. Sir, in after-years John Adams was not ashamed to 
make Fourth-of- July orations — orations which, if uttered to-day, would 
be sneered at as spread-eagle speeches. Would to God there were 
more spread-eagleism in the land than there is. Our Fourths of July 
have become unmeaning holidays, for boys to fire ofl^ crackers and to 
throw up Roman candles. Orations in praise of our glorious land 
are rarely heard. It is to be hoped this centennial year may be the 
commencement of a new era ; that this great jubilee at Philadelphia 
may cause to be hatched a new brood of American eagles, to be spread 
in succeeding years. 

Thinkj Mr. Chairman, of the difference between now and 177G. A 
common eagle, extending his flight from the extreme eastern limits of 
our civilization to its western limit in 1776, would have made that 
flight in one single day. To-day the proudest monarch of the forest, 
lifting himself from the Atlantic and looking to the setting sun, ever in- 
tent in sailing onward, days, ay weeks, will have passed before he shall 
be able to cool his wearied pinions in the spray of the Pacific ; and 
yet we are afraid of making a centennial precedent of celebrating the 
glorious boon handed down to us by 1776. Sir, ninety-two years ago, 
when the first anniversary of the Fourth of July was celebrated after 
the acknowledgment of Independence, when the gun first belched 
forth upon the eastern slope of Maine at sunrise, that the day of our 
national birth had come, as in the sun's rapid flight across the conti- 
nent gun after gun was heard, in less than one hour the last gun was 
heard on our western limits, and was echoed by the crack of the red 
man's rifle, and the war-whoop of the Indian Avas the chorus to the 
orator's patriotic words. What is it to-day ? When the sun shall rise 
on the Fourth of July next, and shall gild the hill-tops on the Saint 
John's and the boom of the cannon is heard announcing the one hun- 
dredth birthday of our existence, as the sun shall roll on in his march 
of a thousand miles an hour, and gun after gun shall catch up the 
detonation of the last gun, the national anthem will swell as it goes 
westward until, reaching a line stretching from the far north to the 
extreme south on the Gulf of Mexico, one grand peal shall be heard, 
a peal of a thoitsand guns, rocking the very foundations of earth, 



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echoed to the blue vaults of hoaveu, mingling its tones with the songs 
of the stars as they roll in their musical spheres. Ay, sir, that tone, 
that grand national anthem, rolling over a laud teeming with popula- 
tion, rich iu all that Ijlesses man, will take nearly live hours going 
from our eastern to our western limits ; and yet we cannot vote three 
and a quarter cents each of the people's money for a celebration of • 
the magnificent boon our forefathers have given ns ! 

Sir, they say it is unconstitutional. I could if I had time convince 
any man that it is according to the very spirit of the Constitution. 
Sir, the Constitution made our Government. Wlien it formed it, it 
made it with certain incidents of government, incidents which belong 
to nationality. A very incident of nationality is to preserve itself, 
to glorify itself among nations, to give expression to its ijride of 
existence. One of these incidents is to nourish the heart of our people 
as we nourish its brain. Sir, what right under the Constitution had 
we to erect this magnificent pile here as the nation's Capitol? Brick 
and mortar would have warmed us as well — would have protected us 
as well in summer and winter ; but when we stand at the foot of this 
hill and look at yonder magnilicent Dome, cutting the blue vault of 
heaven with its rounded brow, we feel i)roud of the country, proud of 
the land of which it is the type and emblem, and our citizens when 
they come here tell us not of any waste of money. Yet that Dome 
cost many millions. 

Sir, what right had oiir forefathers to fill that panel there to the 
right of your chair with the pictui-e^of the Father of his Country ? 
The right was incident to government, to erect statues and to 
paint pictures commemorating our glorious heroes — men who gave 
their time and wasted their fortunes for our benefit. When sitting 
here and our minds are clouded with any ignoble thought, let us look 
at that calm face and remember that no sordid thought ever stained 
his mind, and then every groveling desire will be exorcised from our 
heart. What right had we to i>ut that picture, Mr. Chairman, to your 
left ? He was the friend of America ; there was no other right than 
the right incident to our nationality to reward this friend of our 
country — a man who came here when we were struggling for inde- 
jiendence, came in the name of his king. It stands there a memoria 
teehnica of international obligations. When in this Hall we feel dis- 
posed in our power to snatch from a weak sister-republic her lands 
and appropriate them to ourselves, he stands there and bids us remem- 
ber what we owe to foreigners. When iu the greed and lust of jiarty 
power we are asked to take advantage of the internecine strife of a 
sister-government, when Spain is rocked by wars and we are asked 
to rob her of her brightest jewel, Lafayette stands there and tells us 
to remember our duty to those who have gone before us, and to re- 
member that golden rule, " We should do unto others as we would 
they should do unto us." 

Mr. Chau'man, we decorate the graves of our soldiers. Is it under 
the war power ? Do the bones and ashes of our soldiers fight ? No, 
sir ; it is an incident of nationality itself. It is our duty, not simply 
our right ; it is our duty to give a resting-place befitting the heroes 
who gave their lives for us. We do so at Gettysburgh ; and we are 
not told we are doing an unconstitutional thing. 

When Ireland was starving and stretched her meager hand across 
the ocean and pleaded to America for bread, did we cry out. The Con- 
stitution prevents ? No, sir ; we sent ships freighted with corn. And 
Ireland was grateful and happy. 

When that late Egyptian scourge came like a blighting cloud from 
the Rocky Mountains, sweepingfrom Nebraska andKansas everything 
that was green, and the people in distress appealed to Congress for 
assistance, it gave them raiment and bread, and gave them seeds. 



16 

Under the Constitution ? No, sir. O ! no. But under the right that 
belonged to us as an incident of nationality, believing that we were 
made in the image of the Eternal Jehovah, to be kind and generous 
to those who were cast in the like mold with ourselves. 

Sir, these acts have been done since the beginning of the Govern- 
*ment, and yet we are told that this will be a precedent in the future. 
Ay, sir, let the watch-dogs of the Treasury tremble ; we are going to 
vote this Centennial appropriation, and in 1976 our act will be quoted 
against us. We shall all then have been gathered to our fathers. 
Our children even will not be alive. Nothing now living born of 
women will be then in this House. I may be mistaken, Mr. Chair- 
man, when I look upon the brow of the present occupant of the chair, 
[Mr. Wood, of New York,] around which are clustering the eternal 
snows of winter to keep it forever fi-esh. I feel it is possible that he 
may be sitting here in 1976. My friend from West Virginia, [Mr. 
Faulkner,] whose words of wisdom I heard years ago, seems to know 
no creeping of time. He may be living here in 1976. I give him the 
benefit of this precedent, and I hope that if he be here then, when this 
country shall number a population of 150,000,000, he will quote our 
acts to-day, and will vote an appropriation to make a celebration that 
will cause the very welkin to ring from one end of the country to the 
other. 

Sir, some of my friends are afraid of their constituents. They say 
they would like this bill to iiass, but they cannot vote it. I am not 
afraid of mine. Chicago, midway between two oceans, in less than 
one short half a century sin'inging from nothing into the Queen City 
of the West, knows no jealousy of Philadelphia. She remembers that 
when the fire-fiend swept over her and her palatial structures and her 
comfortable homes were laid low ; when her people were bowed down 
in the ashes of despair, the generous world came to her assistance ; 
and lightning words told her to be of good cheer, because bread and 
money were coming to aid her. Chicago, remembering all this, know- 
ing no jealousy, Avill feel that not three and one-third cents should 
have been voted by her Representatives, but will say, ay, the poorest 
man that carries a hod or wields a pick, will tax^ me on the shoulder 
and tell me I ought to have voted a dollar. 

Sir, I hope this appropriation will pass, and I hope that my southern 
friends — and I will say to them that I was myself born on southern 
soil — will not allow this opportunity to pass without proving to the 
North that they have as much pride in the Fourtli of July as any man 
in the North. It belongs to us all in common. I know they are strict 
constructionists. I hope they will be able to see, as I do, a right un- 
der the Constitution to vote for this measure. And then on the 4tli 
of July next at Philadelphia the people, gathering from every part 
of the Union, will feel that the glory of the pageant is theirs. 

Mr. ATKINS. Does the gentleman mean to imply that members 
who are opposed to this bill are disloyal to the Government ? 

Mr. HARRISON. By no means. 

Mr. ATKINS. I hope not. No such test as that should be made. 

Mr. HARRISON. I would say to my friend from Tennessee that, 
although I did not fight myself, I have read that brave men are always 
the first to strike hands across the bloody chasm ; that true soldiers 
bear no ill-will after the smoke of battle is over. 

Mr. ATKINS. I am ready to strike hands across the bloody chasm, 
but I am not going to vote for this bill. 

Mr. HARRISON. That, Mr. Chairman, is the gentleman's own 
right, and I do not question his motives, however he may vote. 

Mr. Chairman, I hope and trust that this appropriation will pass 
by as large a vote as possible ; and if it could be a unanimous vote I 
feel that it would be for the good of our whole country. 

o 



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